All posts tagged national forest

Where is that Fire Road?

The entrance to the fire road from Bear Trap Road.

Trail Report: Bear Trap Access Point

December 18, 2011 

I went to Bear Trap this weekend with the intention of trying the Ridge Top Trail in the other direction.  Which I did and Ill comment on that in the next post (so above this post).  While I was there I again admired how many side trails there are off of this fire road.  And I decided that next time I need to bring a marker with me so I can add all these smaller trails to my map.

While I was pondering my map, and trying to triangulate exactly where certain trails are, I noticed, not for the first time, that the first two fire roads that come off of the main one, 536, which are 536C and 536F are simply not there.  Previously when I mentioned this to a trail riding friend while driving home from a ride, she responded that they are there, I just missed them.  I knew this was not correct.  I am a bit obsessive about side trails and fire roads that turn off of the main route, so I know I wouldn’t miss these two main roads that should, according to the map, even have gates on them, but I stored it away for future thinking.  Which I promptly forgot about.

When I was riding this weekend, it popped back to me and I kept thinking about it, although I didn’t really focus on it totally while I was out there riding.  And now that I am back to my work week, and won’t be able to get back out to the trails for a bit, I can’t stop thinking about it.  I have pulled my map out more than once and stared at those two roads, trying to be sure that I *know* where they are suppose to be, but until I am back at Bear Trap, pulling the map out is not going to answer any of my questions.

Were these roads intended to be built and put on the map to plan ahead?  Were they started and not finished?  Were they built and then left to become over grown for years and years?  Its driving me nuts.  I tried calling the local National Forest office and left a message.  I am hoping someone there can give me some insight.

I suspect I know where the first one 536C is intended to be/or was, but that it is still a foot trail or has become severely over grown.  I will explore this area soon and see what I can figure out.

The second one is a little more tricky.    I need to have my map out with me and make sure I acknowledge each curve in the road and its correspond on the map as I ride.  I am not sure, but it’s possible that the trail I ride up to the ridge top is actually the second fire road turn 536F.  It is certainly wide enough, minus all the small trees and brush growth, and is very clearly cut in several places.  Meaning there was most likely machinery used to create this trail and it was meant to be much wider, more like fire road width.  It also comes to a circle that has several trails that come out at that point, straight ahead (which goes to the Ridge Top Trail and is very steep), to the left, which is very over grown and looks like a very old trail that is not really pony passable, and a third to the right.  This one to the right is a bit of a pain to get started on  because there is a large mound at its start combined with some low branches over it.  I did follow it a ways one time and it is a clearly cut trail the width of a fire road and has young growth on it.  Although I am sure this trail was intentionally cut out at one time and wide enough for vehicles, I am not sure if it is the FR 536F marked on the map.

over grown fire road?

If it is that FR536F, then I am way off on where I speculate the trail shoots off of the road.  Which is totally possible and will be easy to figure out next time I am there.  Although looking at my map, I am rather uncertain it’s at that point.  The main fire road has a few squiggles in it before reaching the trail on the left and the distance feels longer than the map shows it being if it is FR536F.  I just need to have my map out for each turn, like I already said.

There are quite a few trails that lead off on that side of the fire road that are cut in and pretty flat, but I have thought of them as more appropriate for 4wheeler access vs. dilapidated fire roads.  And the other side of the road actually has some vehicle entrance points that are in current use that probably make good camping points for hunters staying out for the night, none of which are on the map.

My other thought, and I am not sure how much this could help, is to drive to the trail head and up the fire road.  The gate is still open, but probably won’t be for much longer with the main hunting season ending in two weeks.  But my thought is that, in a vehicle it might be more obvious since I’ll be at the right height.  I am not sure if the second gate is open on the fire road thought.  It wasn’t last time I went through there, but that was about two months ago and I do not remember if the main gate was open at that time either.

I think I know where my next ride will be at.

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by riderofchaos on December 20, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by riderofchaos on December 20, 2011

https://blueridgepony.com/2011/12/20/where-is-that-fire-road/

Berm? Bern? Barm? well shoot, mound.

I do realize that the ‘mounds’ at the start of trails, intended to prevent vehicles and 4wheelers from accessing them are actually called berms.  But I am not sure if that is spelled b.e.r.m. or b.a.r.m. or b.u.r.m. or what and spell check doesn’t like any of them.  I suspect is berm, but until I am sure I’ll just call them mounds.

not the best photo of a 'mound' but you get the idea.

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by riderofchaos on December 19, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by riderofchaos on December 19, 2011

https://blueridgepony.com/2011/12/19/berm-bern-barm-well-shoot-mound/

Trail Report: Pet Cemetery, Tower Loop

Pet Cemetery, Tower Loop

1-1:45 hour ride

Trail Report: December 11, 2011

Terrain: Fire Road, wooded trail, some up and down but no big climbs or descents.  Year round creek crossing.  Some rocky areas but nothing too rough for this area.  Picnic table break point about midway. 

Parking: curved pull over on Tillman Road/101 at Pet Cemetery.  Room for 3 modest rigs parked in line with several other pull over parking spots just up and down the road. 

Having done a loop in the other direction, around Drunken Ridge by taking Heartstone Ridge/431 Trail and then turning on 423 back to Tillman, knowing the parking at this location was pretty accessible, and enjoying some of the trail from accessing it from Bear Trap Road, I decided to try this loop. 

Simon fresh off the trailer and looking thrilled to hit the trail!

I thought it would be particularly good for a pony that is newer to trails or in poor condition, because it starts off with a minor incline along a closed fire road, and then hits some nicely wooded trails and ends with a hack along Tillman Road back to the trailer.  It’s not too strenuous and it’s not too long.  Ironically my friend Carol Ann was interested in going on a ride that Sunday and had a pony to take out on his first trail ride. 

Tillman Road can be reached from two different directions.  I found the Dayton direction to be a pain on Sundays because there are a lot of Mennonite buggies out on the roads visiting after church, and it is easy to get stuck behind a couple with the roads being so hard to pass on, particularly when towing a horse trailer.  So this weekend I went from the other direction by passing through Stokesville and past Bear Trap Road, to turn right onto Tillman/101.  A few miles up Tillman on the right is the pull over curve with a fire road behind it.  It’s a neat starting point because of the pet cemetery placed throughout the woods behind it.  Small gravestones, some professionally made and some homemade let you know that Fluffy, Boo and many other pets were laid to rest in this natural setting. 

Friend, Carol Ann, her pony Finn and her dog Maggie. And those are Simon's ears!

The loop starts out on the fire road behind the parking curve.  It is not that steep and even has a few areas that are close to being called level ground for a few short yards!  The fire road will eventually come to a dead end, according to the map, and I am looking forward to confirming this on a future ride, but for this loop, turn right onto trail 432, that runs fully across the fire road. Just before 432 is another trail that shoots up at an angle on the right, this is the same trail, just starting a few yards earlier.  432 heads up hill and shortly ends at a T and brown trail sign.  Turn right onto Cookie Trail/432Aand enjoy a ride through the woods, with some short up and down hills and some nice views.  There is one tree that leans pretty close into the trail around a rock, but Simon is a pony and fit just fine.  The trail comes out onto a FR at a cell phone tower on the right and a picnic table and rest area available on the left.  Continue straight ahead and onto the fire road for a short distance before taking the first trail on the right. 

 

There is a brown wooden sign and it is marked with the Tillman/101 direction you want.  This trail leads down and along a pleasant trail, although mostly with a downhill slope. 

Simon back at the trailer getting some treats

There is a newly cleared area on the right that has some trails wrapped through it that I am also looking forward to exploring.  Cross a few creek bed crossings, and then the trail follows along beside the creek.  It eventually ends at a larger creek which requires crossing and pops out at a pull over from Tillman that opens to a few private lanes.  Make a right onto Tillman and get in a nice hack back to the parking area. 

A rather quick ride, with petty friendly terrain.  Although Tillman is a road, it is gravel and about 1 ½ lanes wide, both of which help keep what little traffic does travel it from moving too fast.   
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by riderofchaos on December 15, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by riderofchaos on December 15, 2011

https://blueridgepony.com/2011/12/15/trail-report-pet-cemetery-tower-loop/

Trail Report: Bear Trap, Ridge Top Loop

Bear Trap, Ridge Top Loop

2-3 hour ride

Trail Report: December 4, 2011

Terrain: Fire road, and wooded trails, very steep climb up, good views, some downhill but not too rough.  Year around creek crossing.  Some rocky areas but nothing too rough for this area.  Picnic table break point about midway. 

Parking: Along side of the road.  There is room for several rigs to park, but keep in mind, it is along the side of a road and not an actually pull over.   

*Ill take some photos of the turning points next time I get out to Bear Trap and then Ill add them into this post. 

Bear Trap is currently my favorite access point.  I have not fully explored the whole trail/fire road network there yet, and there really is a lot to explore from this entrance, so it will probably stay at the top of my list for a while. 

Last weekend I did what I call, Bear Trap Ridge Top Loop.  The ride involves parking on the side of Bear Trap Road at a fire road entrance to National Forest.  It starts with a hack in along the fire road for a short while, and crossing a creek that runs year round, about midway.  This fire road is littered with lots of trails that start with mounds and signs that announce motorized vehicles (think 4 wheelers) are prohibited from entering them.   I have explored a good dozen plus of these and most ride for a mile or more before dead ending or becoming too over grown to pass. This trail is distinguished from the others by being where the FR sharply curves to the right and is equipped with a small pull over just before it that has room for a couple vehicles to park. 

After a trek along this pleasant trail that has a gradual incline, it ends at a largish clearing and forks out into a couple directions.  Only one direction is usably clear, and it is the one straight ahead that sits behind another (very large) mound, and then goes steeply up.

Daisy in her high viz vest

It is a pretty steep climb, that gets steeper as it goes.  A few level resting points, just wide enough for one or two ponies have been cut into the trail to give a break during this excruciating climb.  The trail crests out onto the very ridge top of the mountain and a lovely trail that runs along its top in both directions.  I call this Ridge Top Trail and have it drawn in on my map in black marker.  I made it appear way straighter than it is.   A large tree at the crest of the trail is marked  with paint, but with the trail being covered in leaves year round, it is still very easy to miss the turn down from the ridge top if you tried reversing the loop.  I have tried this one time, and I did not like the climb down.  It was very steep, and being littered with leaves, slippery.  I hiked down next to Simon, rather than staying on his back, and was happy to have his mane to hold onto as I slipped and slid down. 

View from Ridge Top Trail

This loop requires the explorer  to turn right at the top, where the trail has ended in a T.  I have only gone left one time, so far, and I only went a short distance.  Fully exploring this direction is probably going to be my next solitary Sunday adventure though.  This ride requires a turn right, to follow the trail as it wonders along the ridge top, with excellent views.  It is a very clean clear trail, that slips between trees and around a few rock piles.  There is one point that the trail comes to somewhat of a lookout point, pile of rocks.  The trail goes up the rocks and over it through the boulder tumble, but there is also a more horse friendly path through deep leaf litter below the rock pile.

Daisy on top of the rock pile

Shortly after the rock pile a nice view of Heartstone Lake can be seen to the left.  I have only twice run into another person when I have been in the Bear Trap complex and this trip was one of them.  I met up with a 3 man group of mountain bikers on this portion of the trail.  Mountain bikers are some tough cookies.  I cannot imagine biking up some of those climbs!  After we said our hellos and I continued on I realized I should have asked them what their loop was and if they were going out the other end of this trail, in the direction I have not been yet.  Hide sight…

Daisy sprinting down the rock pile

Ridge Top Trail eventually pops out onto a fire road, that a short skip to the left ends at a cell phone tower with an overlook view point, picnic table and rest area. 

Several other trails converge in this area, and taking the fire road all the way back (by turning right from Ridge Top Trail onto it, and again, turning right when the FR comes to a T)  is an alternative ride that adds about an hour to the circuit. Having gone that rout one time was enough for me.  It was much longer, mostly downhill and pretty boring.  Instead, turning right off of Ridge Top trail onto the fire road and riding the short distance to the next hard left turn in the road brings up a trail on the right.  This trail was previously marked with a nice wooden sign, declaring it trail 439 but after some road clearing this summer, the wooden sign seems to have disappeared.  It is easy to miss this trail now, and there is a bit of cleared brush piled somewhat in front of it making it harder to find.  Which is why I tried the long way taking the fire road back earlier this year, I could not find the trail!  In my defense, the  brush on that side was piled much higher at the time. 

Daisy scouting ahead on the fire road back to the trailer
439 is a nice downhill trail that goes through the woods and over a few logs.  On my ride there were some down branches along 439 from the weird October snow storm we got, but all were easy to pass.  The trail ends at the FR, with a prominent sign, which is helpful should you reverse the ride.  Turning right onto the FR closes the loop, and a few miles of hacking ends back on Bear Trap Road. 
 
It’s a nice 2-3 hour ride, depending on how much pace is put in on the fire road stretches and includes a big climb, some downhill work and a lot of nice views and scenery.  There is also the year round running creek and several spots that springs pop up near the fire road for most of the year.  I have also seen a turtle two different times on this loop.  And turtles are hard to spot!  

    

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by riderofchaos on December 13, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by riderofchaos on December 13, 2011

https://blueridgepony.com/2011/12/13/trail-report-bear-trap-ridge-top-loop/

Trail Riding

Monday-Friday I work at my full time day job and Saturdays I work my Cosmic Earth http://cosmicearth.wordpress.com/ stand at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market http://harrisonburgfarmersmarket.com/.    This leaves me Sundays off, and after a stressful, or even a not so stressful week, I want some down time.

My idea of down time involves solidarity and nature.    Luckily I live in the Blue Ridge Valley, smack between two mountain chains, locally referred to as National Park and National Forest, where I can spend my day in the saddle listening to nature and the clop of my pony’s hooves.

Shenandoah National Park       http://www.nps.gov/shen/index.htm

A short drive in one direction brings me to one of the gated entrances to Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive.  Shenandoah has well tended and well mapped trails as well as maintained paved roads.  National Park closes when weather has made the roads or trails unsafe.  It requires an entrance fee (the yearly pass is a good deal if you plan to visit more than 2 days out of a year) and is rather popular and often heavily trafficked by other nature goers.  This is ok if you don’t like being out in the middle of nowhere completely on your own, if you are the type that tends to get lost or turned around, or if you want to plan out a hike/ride that includes a detailed description of terrain and distance.  National Park also requires dogs to be leashed, and it requires visitors to stay on marked trails.

George Washington and Jefferson National Forest           http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/gwj/home

A short drive in the other direction takes me to the more rugged National Forest.  It is less formal than National Park and has a lot of access points.  It is not gated, there is no cost to enter and users are unlikely to see a park ranger during their visit.  The roads are often gravel, sometimes potholed, and not always wide enough for two vehicles to pass easily.  The roads and trails close very infrequently, requiring visitors to be aware of conditions on their own.  With an extensive trail and fire road network, National Forest is a multi use park that allows hikers, bikers, horse riders, hunters and campers alike and does not require dogs on leashes or users to stay on preexisting trails (although creating new trails is prohibited).  In exchange for lack of an entrance fee, many of the trails are not well marked or obsessively maintained.  On most of my visits to this park, I have not seen another person during my stay.

***

Being comfortable in the outdoors, reading a map, and equipped with a reasonably adequate sense of direction, I am content not seeing other people on my excursions, hence my need for solidarity.  I also enjoy taking my dog, Daisy, with me when I go on trail rides and since it’s pretty hard to keep a dog on a leash from the back of a horse, taking Daisy is just not possible in National Park.  So although there are a few specific trails I plan to venture on in National Park, I tend to frequent National Forest most often.

Simon - August 2011

I also really enjoy exploring and finding new areas.  When unexpectedly passing a side trail, I often find myself asking my pony, Simon, “oh, what’s down that trail, let’s find out”.  and off we go.  Usually it leads to a dead end or gets too thick for a pony to pass, but sometimes I find really neat trails, and I can’t help but be excited with each moment of, what’s over the next hill, or what’s around the next corner.  I save this uncharted adventuring for when I am out on the trail on my own.  Oddly enough, I have discovered that most other people want to stick to the preprogrammed circuit with an expected outcome.  And since I usually do go on trail rides on my own, that works out just fine.

Friend Carol Ann and her pony Zeke - November 2011

I honestly do enjoy being on my own in the woods.  Of course there is always the chance that something bad could happen to me, Simon or Daisy, and being on my own might make it worse.  But while I respect that Simon is a pony, and has a mind of his own, he is also a relatively safe pony, and he has a good level head.  He is not the type to do something particularly stupid like walk over the ledge of a drop off, decide he is going to turn and gallop full throttle back to the trailer, or refuse to move forward because a rock looks particularly scary.  And Although Daisy does like to scout along ahead of us, she is never out of sight and always comes back when called.  Frankly the peace of mind is worth the risk.  And I do always carry my trail map and my cell phone, which surprisingly works on more of the trails than would be expected!

Ash and Daisy - on the "Bear Ride" - June 2011

If you do not trail ride in this area, you will probably find my trail reports pretty boring.  So heads up on that.  But sometimes they can be exciting even for the non local rider.  For example, this spring I rode right past a momma bear and her cubs.  As in, she was just a few feet from me.  No joke.  She was standing on the fire road that I was trotting up, and I just trotted on past her.  Simon is the one that actually cued me that something was coming up because he pricked his ears and tensed up before we rounded a bend in the road.  But he just kept on trotting and went right on past her without a flinch.  I also had both dogs with me.  Daisy, who normally scouts out ahead, sniffing her way along, tends to follow my husband’s dog, Ash, when he is along.  And Ash, being his military minded self, sticks directly behind Simon, trotting in formation the whole time.  Ash is very businesslike.  so both dogs were in a line behind Simon and just kept on running past the bear too.  I was so proud of both of them and Simon.

But if you do ride the trails in the same area as me, it may be interesting to read my trail reports because I plan to include the current condition of the trail.  It is also possible that I might mention a ride you haven’t tried before, which can be exciting too.

I do most of my trail riding in the mounted games-off-season, which covers most of the winter, and that means I should have quite a few trail reports to post over the next few months.

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by riderofchaos on December 13, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by riderofchaos on December 13, 2011

https://blueridgepony.com/2011/12/13/trail-riding/

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